Local and global assessments of a subsea riser-spool connection under dropped impact loads

Subsea riser tube and spool is often used together to connect the riser of jacket to flowline or pipeline. Due to its limited size (less than 200 m), the location is within the lifting zones of the platform. Consequently, the dropped object hazard has potential high risk and needs to be checked. This paper presents a numerical study on accessing the structural dynamics of a subsea riser connection under the dropped container impact loads. De-coupled local and global models were established. The impact impulse was obtained from local impact analysis by Abaqus Explicit solver, in which deformations from container and pipeline are both captured. The impact energy level is in line with the risk assessment. The global model was built by ANSYS APDL macros. A simple input file is only needed for end users. The nonlinear pipe and soil interaction are included in a simplified manner. The model comprises of static and dynamic analysis parts. The static analysis captures the in-place configuration and the functional loads. The dynamic analysis is a restart with inherited stress state from static analysis. The impact impulse was applied by point loads in a certain time range. The nonlinear soil stiffness was approached by spring elements (compression only). The dynamic analysis was done in a longer time, ensuring to capture any dynamic effects. The interface loads at the riser stick-out and riser anchor are both extracted and discussed. It is shown that present structure design can withstand the dropped loads at the input energy level.